Drowning the Past
by Shattered Echoes
Summary: Song Fic with Leela and Fry based around the song "Whiskey Lullaby," sung by Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss. Please R&R!


Disclaimer: I do not own Futurama nor am I associated with Fox. Also, I do not own the rights to "Whiskey Lullaby" nor am I associated with Brad Paisley or Allison Krauss in any way.  
  
Author's Note: This is my first song fic. It's based around the song "Whiskey Lullaby," sung by Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss. The lyrics are written in italics and are integrated in the story. Just kinda picture them playing in the background as the story unfolds. Anyway, enjoy and please review!  
  
Drowning the Past  
  
Leela sits across from Fry in a lonely little diner. She doesn't say a word. She burns to look at him, but doesn't dare. She doesn't want to see the look on his face. So she doesn't Without saying a word, she takes off the ring he gave her the day she promised to love him forever and sets it down in front of him on the table. She looks at him for a moment, not knowing what to say. He looks tired and a slight nod of his head tells her that she owes no explanation. She looks away, trying to hide the tears coming from her eye. Without another word, she gets up and leaves the diner.  
  
She put him out, like the burning end of a mid-night cigarette.  
  
Fry picks the ring, turning it in his fingers. It still holds the warmth from her hand. He can't remember when the diamond lost its shine, but it has. He puts the ring in his pocket, pays the check and leaves the diner, walking into the dark night. He won't hail a taxi tonight. There isn't any point. She's gone.  
  
She broke his heart; he spent his whole life trying to forget.  
  
The days drag on endlessly. He wakes in the morning. He dresses. He goes to work. He goes home. There is no purpose anymore. The life inside of him died with her love for him. Now, lying on his bed, looking up at a bare ceiling, he waits for the uncertain. There are times when he thinks that he can make it on his own, when he thinks that tomorrow might be worth living. Then he is reminded of her and he takes out the ring and the picture of them. And he knows that he can't go it alone.  
  
We watched him drink his pain away a little at time.  
  
It's small at first. Just a beer when he gets home from work. Just something to calm his nerves. But it soon turns into something to help him sleep and a few shots in the morning to get him through the day. Everyone knows that he's wasting away. They can smell the whiskey on his breath. Everyday he comes in a little more drunk and everyone tries a little harder to reach out to him. But the one that he needs is gone. He starts coming to work and passing out on the couch in a drunken stupor. It progresses until the day an angered Hermes tells him that he has to let him go.  
  
But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind.  
  
Fry sits on the floor beside his bed, a bottle of whiskey in one hand, the picture of Leela and him in the other. The love of his life is gone. He has no job. And he can't bring himself to put down the bottle. Even his closest friend Bender has washed his hands of the situation. Fry's mind wanders to the contents in the side table drawer.  
  
Until the night  
  
I love you Leela, Fry thinks to himself. "This is for us, Leela," he says aloud. The sound of his own voice sounds foreign to him. And then it's all over. Holding the note tight in his hand, he falls face first into the pillow.  
  
He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger  
  
And finally drank away her memory. Life is short but this time it was bigger Than the strength he had to get up off his knees.  
  
Bender is awakened by a loud sound in his friend's room. Knowing what it is, he closes his eyes and sighs. He takes a deep breath and enters the room. What he sees only confirms his deepest fears. But he isn't surprised.  
  
We found him with his face down in the pillow  
  
With a note that said "I'll love her 'til I die"  
  
And when we buried him beneath the willow The angels sang a whiskey lullaby.  
  
Leela stands before the coffin unblinking, a single thought running through her head. Amy places a hand on her shoulder to offer what comfort she can. People start to talk in hushed voices. Everyone thinks that she can't hear. But she knows where they cast the blame. Because she lays it in the same place.  
  
The rumors flew but nobody knew how much she blamed herself  
  
She is never the same again. The world is cast in a different light now. Every night, looking at the picture she still keeps beside her bed, she blames herself. No matter how much everyone assures her that he met his own destruction, she knows who should have been on the other side of that gun.  
  
For years and years, she tried to his the whiskey on her breath  
  
Everyone notices, but no one says anything at first. It's not as bad as Fry was, they tell themselves. They all say that she'll be fine. They ignore the strong scent of spearmint mixed with the even stronger smell of whiskey. Nightly, she hides alone in her room afraid to admit to herself what everyone else sees. She drinks herself to sleep, clasping onto his picture.  
  
But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind  
  
Ashamed and alone, she hides alone in her room. She hasn't left for days and she ignores the threats from Hermes that she'll be fired if she doesn't come back. She ignores Amy's pleas to talk. She just sits lays on her bed, tears streaming down her face. Nibbler purrs at her feet. She sits up and strokes the little monster, telling him goodbye.  
  
Until the night  
  
The tears come in sobs now and Nibbler sits at her side, looking at her curiously. "I'm sorry, Nibbler," she says aloud, "I just can't do it anymore." She closes her eyes and mentally sends an apology to Fry and tells him that she loves him. Her body goes limp and she collapses, her face in the pillow the picture broken at her side.  
  
She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger  
  
And finally drank away his memory. Life is short but this time it was bigger Than the strength she had to get up off her knees.  
  
Nibbler crawls next to her and nudges her gently. She doesn't move. He paws at her a little harder this time. Still nothing. The little monster finally gives up and presses as close to her as he can get. He stays by her side until Amy, arriving to check on her friend, finds the heartbroken little animal. She's shaken by what she sees. But she isn't surprised.  
  
They found her with her face down in the pillow  
  
Clinging to his picture for dear life.  
  
Then they laid her next to him beneath the willow  
  
As the angels sang a whiskey lullaby.  
  
Bender stands at the entry of Planet Express, looking at a plaque mounted to the door. It reads, "Phillip Fry and Toranga Leela. The Inseparable Team" The dates of their birth and their death are listed. But what has Bender's attention is the picture above memorial plaque. In it, Fry and Leela are hugging each other tightly, both sporting genuine smiles. Benders can't help but smile as he says to himself, "You didn't get the girl, Fry, you always had her." He leaves the building to walk down the dark streets home. 


End file.
